Why I am wary of Raila

By Peter Nguli

Our Prime Minister is a very likable person, a very respectable and of course extremely excellent nationalist with a very workaholic persona. He is a reformist who has fought tooth and nail for our constitution and we do appreciate that from the bottom of our hearts as a nation.

He has also fought for human rights, equal opportunities and freedom of speech and has been imprisoned for that cause. We know that the Prime Minister may soon be our president if we go by current opinion polls.

However, with all my respects to my honorable respectable Prime Minister, I wish to raise the following concerns.

1. Inconsistency

The Prime Minister is very inconsistent. Today he will say this and that, only to refute it the following day and say that he never said it. He will say he was misquated.

Previously, he has denied many press reports that he said in public. This has made him earn the title of 'Kigeugeu' which means that he keeps changing like a chameleon. This has also made him lose many friends, honourable members and support and earn a lot of foe in the political arena.

A leader must be calm, resilient, credible and patient. And just as US Democrat president Obama said of his Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Raila seems to shoot first and then aim later.

We all know of Kibaki's out-of-hands rule, he will be the last to comment in any situation however critical it is. While this is not a requirement for any national leader, it outlines how strong and resilient he is in taking his time to respond to issues of national interest.

In any national issue, Raila is the first to comment and Kibaki is the last to conclude. This makes the difference of a national leader; that he must go slow and hold his piece and think carefully what he is going to speak before he opens his mouth.

2. Association with criminal outlawed groups

The Prime Minister has been seen campaigning with the leader of the outlawed criminal group Mungiki and these scenes only remind us of how grizzly the criminal sect murdered innocent civilians.

Mungiki murdered hundreds of people in cold blood especially in Central Kenya. By associating with this sect, the Prime Minister is simply telling us that he is so desperate for votes that he does not care which group he associates with, however bloody it is. What he does not realize is that he is simply reminding us of the horrible accounts of how our relatives were murdered by Mungiki.

Additionally media reports tell us that Raila has also sought dialogue with another outlawed group: Mombasa Republican Council (MRC). MRC is a group that advocates for secession. This is a criminal outfit that has no place in our country at all; for Kenya is one country in, peace, love and unity.

Any leader associating with such groups does not love our country at all.

3. Coup involvement

It is no secret that the Prime Minister himself once confessed, with his own mouth, that he was involved in 1982 coup in which hundreds of people were murdered in an attempt to overturn the government.

Whether the government was bad or not is not our concern. And it is not an issue at the moment. But the coup itself was a treason act in the strictest sense of the word. Make no mistake; two wrongs never make a right. As the African proverb says, 'a snake still has the venom, even if you remove its teeth'.

4. Dictatorship
Former Agriculture Minister, Mr. Honourable William Ruto, the VP Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka, former Tourism Minister Mr. Balala and current Prime Minister Mr. Musalia Mudavadi, among others, have all complained of dictatorship inflicted in their midst by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

They have all indicated that Raila rules with an iron hand and does not accept competition that is required in a democracy. Indeed, that is why some of these have left his party. Is this what Raila calls democracy? Is this not dictatorship? Can all these people be wrong?

5. Extravagance

We are also told in the media of the extravagant nature of the PM's trips abroad. The Prime Minister is known to spent nights in very expensive hotels in United States. One night of his trip in New York can pay for several of the striking teachers, doctors and lectures.

Does this explain why the PM has never responded at all to the striking teachers? Let us all Kenyans use our votes wisely in the coming elections and elect leaders of credibility. The choice is yours. Use your vote wisely.

Peter Nguli is a Kenyan citizen residing in the United Kingdom. [[email protected]]